Merck KGaA, Threshold drug fails in late-stage cancer trials

Germany's Merck KGaA and development partner Threshold Pharmaceuticals said their experimental cancer drug evofosfamide failed to show the desired effects in two late stage studies.Reuters | December 07, 2015, 13:19 IST

In a further indication of the rot in the country's healthcare system, a parliamentary panel has rapped the government for gross irregularities in drug trials, under-reporting and lapses in monitoring serious adverse events and lethargy in safeguarding health, in studies on cervical cancer prevention vaccine by a US-based non-governmental agency.

Evofosfamide did not meet the main goal of improving overall survival in patients suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and advanced soft tissue sarcoma, prompting the two companies to give up exploring the drug's use against the these cancer forms.

Merck said it would soon decide over the drug's future overall. (Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Christoph Steitz)

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